Did you know that the simple act of washing our hands has prevented the spread of diseases since the 1840s? When Dr. Semmelweis in Austria noticed that patients were dying at alarming rates at his hospital, he decided to conduct an experiment that required the student doctors to wash their hands after touching deceased patients before treating living ones. Mortality went from about 12 percent down to 2 percent, which caused a chain reaction of doctors to adopt this method.
Without realizing it, you may have saved someone’s life or prevented them from getting sick by performing this simple act throughout your life. Unfortunately, not many people realize how important it is to do this every day and at different times throughout the day. Therefore, National Handwashing Awareness Week was implemented. This week, Dec 1-7, the observance is meant to remind people of all ages about washing their hands, when to do it and how to do it correctly.
The Henry the Hand foundation, which is endorsed by the American Medical Association, seeks to inform people about the 4 Principles of Hand Awareness, which are:
- Wash your hands when they are dirty and before eating.
- Do not cough into hands.
- Do not sneeze into hands.
- Above all, do not put your fingers in your eyes, nose or mouth!
For more information, visit www.henrythehand.com to learn about the many reasons to wash your hands regularly.
